[brieclark]

I'm so excited that it's SUMMER TIME!! I am not a fan of the heat and humidity, but I LOVE my kiddos being home!

I have made a list of things we'd like to do this summer. I had a lot of help from Pinterest for this project. Some are little things, some are big. Most are frugal. I also asked my kids for a few ideas. You'd be surprised at the simplest things they would love to do with you! We also plan to have Parent/Kid dates this summer where I have a "date" with each child and my hubs does the same. One-on-one time. We let the kids choose those, too.

Bowling (We have an inflatable set we'll use)
Go fishing
Blow bubbles
Go to a zoo
Finger paint (We do this outside for easy clean up)
Water balloon fight
Make popsicles (and eat them, of course!)
Treasure Hunt (Bury a "Treasure Chest" full of pennies and make a map)
Go swimming
Go to a splash pad (We have two at local outdoor malls--FREE!)
Star gaze
Walk a nature trail
Sidewalk chalk
Make a photo booth and take pics (Use the self-timer and get the parents in the pics, too!)
Drive-in movie (Make "cars" from boxes)
Bubble wrap hopscotch
Have a picnic
Clark Cafe (This is where my kids play restaurant and serve us dinner)
Watch fireworks
Catch fireflies
Fly kites
Make paper airplanes
Write a book
Go to the library
Play with play dough
Have a Game Night
Ride bikes
Go to a farmer's market
Go to a flea market
Play frisbee
Have a Relay Race
Feed ducks
Watercolor painting
Write letters to family (NOT email.)
Make a fort
Make a movie (Ours will have monsters!)
Play in the sprinkler
Take homemade treats to firemen
Make handprint art
Play tennis
Go camping or set up tent inside
Make homemade pizza
Make marshmallow shooters
Make rainbow cake
Put on a play
Put together a BIG puzzle
Nature scavenger hunt
Make smores
Karaoke night
Go Puddle stomping (Not when there's lightening though)
Watch Harry Potter movies and make wands to cast spells
Make cupcakes
Read a big book as a family
Make nature art
Have a car & bike wash
Paint rocks
Plant flowers
Have a tea party
Photo Scavenger Hunt
Funny Face photo shoot
Shaving cream bath paint
Play charades
Make pinwheels
Film a cooking show
Interview each child on video
Have children draw blindfolded
Freeze dance
Make waffles
Ice fossils
Write a poem together
Fondue dinner night
Make koolaid ice cubes and put in sprite
Have a fancy dinner and wear your best
Fight Ninja balloons
Make mini donuts
Write a song together
Read outside
Eat dinner blindfolded
Balloon ping pong
Make photo bookmarks
Have a living room sleepover
Go to Sonic happy hour
Make sundaes
Glow bubbles
Make silhouette art
Go to a children's museum
Drink lemonade and eat cookies outside (This was specifically requested by my 6 y/o)
Have a puppet show
Go to an aquarium
Make animal costumes
Go to the beach
Build a playhouse
Have a photo shoot in a field
Make story telling blocks and tell stories
Make super hero capes
Have a glow bath
Make a "Park Passport" and visit all local parks
Make a bird feeder
Alphabet tour
Play Hide & Seek


What are you doing this summer?

[pinchthosepennies]

Great ideas. Thanks for sharing!

[Drea]

WOW......thats awesome Brie....I think you and the family are going to be very busy, thats great.........some of those sound so exciting....... have fun......

[Kaydensmama05]

Thanks so much for sharing! I am always looking for ideas to keep my 6 year old busy!!!

[jcsaxx]

Staying inside as much as possible. We have started playing Xbox 360 Kinect with our 2 teenagers. Don't know the name of the game, but it has bowling, volleyball, and track & field. We have been sweating inside instead of going outside.

[michellzey]

volunteer at the local Humane society

[keoughrn]

Love your list, thx

[cmbrn]

I found this list and was inspired....then gave it to my hormonal pre-teen daughter (who is 3/4 of an inch shorter than me and has taken over my shoe collection)....she marked 3 activities she's be interested in......then I almost cried.....guess that's why God gave me a 9 year old and a 3 year old......they are thrilled

[kimmyann123]

make a pinata,,makes me sad my dd is growing up( almost 13) she dont want a pinata at her bday parties anymore...boohooooo

[marnimae]

We love going to the drive in movies, and taking the kids to a local farm pick their own strawberries, blueberries, peaches, Zucchini/squash,and making their own stepping stone and decorating it, the kits are cheap at craft stores w/ the weekly coupon and we decorate w/ little toys or doo dads they have in the house, I love the list this will help me, thanks for all the great ideas!

[msvidkiller13]

Wow Great List You make me want to be Kid again Can I come to your house and play ... Love your ideas

[jfam08]

Regal Cinema and Bow Tie theaters are offering free kids movies, The libraries are offering tons of free workshops, and I will be teaching my 3 youngest how to bake from scratch. They want a cupcake stand so I will help my budding entrepreneurs.

[brieclark]

Originally Posted by jfam08

Regal Cinema and Bow Tie theaters are offering free kids movies,

Ours aren't free, but a great deal at $1. We went last week to Tinseltown to Journey 2 the Mysterious Island. It was really good, and totally worth the $5 for my whole family!

[anetgirl]

Your list is huge! I love staying busy in the summer. We have something planned for nearly every day too. Keep us updated on how you are doing on your list.

[Winterbunny]

We love to travel to national parks and doing a lot of hiking with our dogs.. BUT it seems way to hot for that. So far we really have not done but but a few travel spots.

I am trying to get free tickets to our local zoo, but it's not going so good yet.

[nwfrugalista]

Love your list, Brie!

The first summer we lived in Seattle, I found an article in a free local children's magazine listing the top ten child-friendly playgrounds and we made a point to visit them. A few of them became favorites (Alki Park in West Seattle, Splash Parks in Bellevue and Snohomish County, and Jetty Island in Everett) and we visited them each year.

Another family favorite summer activity is checking out all the local festivals. In Washington my favorite was the Lavender Festival in Sequim (the farms would have local musicians and artists, lavender foods--the ice cream was out of this world--and u-pick fields). Now we live on the East Coast, so we visited Harborfest (a tall ships' festival). Most of the festivals offer free/cheap kids' activities (bouncies, parades, craft stations).

DS loves trains, so he loves going on train trips (from Seattle we took Amtrak for trips to Vancouver BC and to Portland Oregon--using coupons for a free kid ticket with an adult ticket), as well as the local historical railway museum (where they hosted Day Out with Thomas). We haven't done an East Coast Amtrak trip yet, but I want to take the kids to DC by rail and see the monuments as well as the FREE Smithsonian museums/National Zoo (DD has such a busy summer that this may get pushed into the fall, which is probably better weather-wise ).

For super hot days, we use our family pass to the Children's Museum for indoor entertainment. If it is not too sweltering, I got a great discount on passes to a nearby theme park and to the local zoo (both have splash parks).

Also, we love going to outdoor movies (free family-friendly movies hosted by the parks department)--we take our blankets and low slung beach chairs, a picnic dinner and bags of popcorn and snacks.

[Elle13]

Wow thats an impressive list! I have some ideas in mind, but need the time to do them We did do homemade sidewalk paint (cornstarch, water, food coloring) and that was fun!

[mystigal]

Since my son is all grown up and I don't yet have grandkids, I do miss all the fun things I used to do with my son while he was a child. I guess the only things I can think of that some good frugal summer things is: watch movies on Hulu Plus, watch YouTube videos, try out new recipes, and taking up needlepoint again (I just found a needlepoint kit that I never got started on that was hidden in the back of my closet).

Oh, I just ordered a new patio umbrella and patio cushions for my old patio table set, so I'm going to make some iced tea or lemonaide, grab a book or my IPod and just chill out!

[brieclark]

Summer vacation has ended for us. I'm a little diappointed in the number of things we didn't get to do, but we still had lots of fun. I'm keeping the list in my purse to continue to tackle on weekends and afternoons.

[brieclark]

Bumping up for Summer 2013!

[mimipaula1]

We are blessed to attend a church that still puts on Vacation Bible School for no charge to participants. My kids and I always looked forward to attending/volunteering and now my g-kids are enjoying it!

[TreasureTrove]

Last summer I hosted my neighbors kids for "camp" and gave the parents a night off. I let the kids name the camp ("Camp Havinfun"), make a sign for the door and pick from a list of activities like ;Bries. One kid took pics with my digital and we made a collage the next day to send a postcard home. They thought that was soo silly. My fav part was "fridge excavation" - it got my fridge clean and the water fight got the floor clean too (they didn't notice it was a chore). We had a blast.

[MykhalJaems]

I remember my favorite things as a kids to do was read books we checked out from the library. My mom would take us once a week.

The other thing I remember the most was camping. We had a campground about 15 miles from home so Dad could go to work and we could run home and take care of the animals (we had goats, rabbits and chickens) everyday and still enjoy the beach. That same campground is now free to camp at. Wish I could do that as an adult, just not feasible now.

[jswede1149]

The free things I've done this summer so far since my sons last day of school is Friday. We only go out on Sundays.

-Aquarium day with a free 1 hour (cost $20 per ticket) boat ride.
-Health and Fitness Fare where I stocked up on free hand sanitizer.
-Holocaust museum
-Fair in the Square

I am going to New York City in a week. Free things I plan to do there is go to Battery Park and see the Statue of Liberty, walk around Times Square, go to the Twin Towers site outside of the memorial, free fireworks, walk through Central Park during the day, visit gift shops and Toys R Us Times Square without purchasing anything.

I plan to make breakfast and lunch in the rooms (one night free, the other two $160/night) and eat out at night to addressed the overpriced costs of food.

I've never been a big touristy person. I prefer to walk around, go out in nature and see things.

[aidan&logansmommy]

Since summer is here again, I thought it would be a good idea to bump this thread for new ideas.

What are your plans for a frugal summer?

The boys and I will be going to the free movies, picking strawberries and blueberries, having picnics at the park, enjoying some water play in the back yard, and bowling.

We'll also be doing some handwriting, reading, and math practice. My boys need some enrichment activities to help them be ready for 2nd and 5th grade in the fall!